Loews Hotels on Saturday canceled a planned fundraiser at its Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando for U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, who spearheaded the objections to President-elect Biden’s win in Congress on Jan. 6.
Hawley. R-Missouri, was also shown in a photo raising his fist in solidarity with pro-Trump protesters on Capitol Hill prior to the violent assault on the Capitol building.
“We are horrified and opposed to the events at the Capitol and all who supported and incited the actions,” Loews said in a statement on Twitter. “In light of those events and for the safety of our guests and team members, we have informed the host of the Feb. fundraiser that it will no longer be held at Loews Hotels.”
The event was listed as being by a Hawley-affiliated political committee, Fighting for Missouri, which raised more than $272,000 for Hawley in the 2020 election cycle. Hawley does not face reelection until 2024.
“Please join U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley for a fun-filled-family-friendly Orlando weekend event” on Feb. 12 to 15, according to a flier obtained by Florida attorney Daniel Uhlfelder, who posted it on Twitter earlier Saturday.
The event was to cost $5,000 in contributions for a family, $3,000 for a couple and $1,000 for an individual, according to the flier.
“I think it’s totally inappropriate,” Uhlfelder, who last year dressed as the Grim Reaper to criticize Gov. Ron DeSantis’ COVID-19 policy, said in an interview Saturday. “I guess he may be having problems raising money at this point …. So now he’s trying to promote some family-friendly event for $5,000 and you bring your family down and go to Universal in the middle of a pandemic, after [he’s] incited an insurrection? You can’t make this stuff up. I was shocked, I thought it was a joke.”
After Loews’ statement, Uhlfelder said the company “did the right thing. It’s good corporate responsibility.”
Uhlfelder’s publicizing of the planned fundraiser led to a firestorm online.
State Rep. Anna Eskamani retweeted Uhlfelder’s original tweet, adding, “Is @Loews_Hotels / @UniversalORL going to cancel this fundraiser being hosted by seditionist @HawleyMO in Orlando or are they going to just be chill with a treasonous politician who would rather see Democracy burn for his own political gain?”
The Lincoln Project, the anti-Trump Republican group, also tweeted, “Let @Loews_Hotels know we don’t like businesses that work with traitors.”
Salvatore Purpura, the listed treasurer for Fighting for Missouri, did not return a request for comment.
Comcast, Universal’s parent company, joined Disney and other major corporations last week in suspending contributions to Republicans who voted against Biden’s win. A spokesperson for Universal Orlando did not return requests for comment.
The controversy over the fundraiser was just the latest for Hawley in the wake of his objections to Biden’s win, which he pushed forward with even after Congress reassembled at Capitol Hill in the hours after the assault.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star, the two biggest newspapers in his home state of Missouri, have called for Hawley to resign, with the Post-Dispatch slamming him for having “the gall to stand before the Senate Wednesday night and feign shock… hours after he had fist-pumped and cheered the rioters as they arrived on Capitol Hill.”
Hawley’s book was also canceled by Simon & Schuster following the Capitol assault and Hawley’s vote against the election results later that night.
Some senators have called for Hawley’s expulsion from the Senate under the 14th amendment for supporting insurrection, with Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., saying, “That should be a consideration,” according to The Hill.
In a statement, Hawley said that “to equate leading a debate on the floor of the Senate with inciting violence is a lie, and it’s dangerous. I will not be deterred from representing my constituents and I will not bow to left-wing corporate pressure.”
slemongello@orlandosentinel.com
